Wireless access for computing networks is known in the art. Typically such systems are implemented by a layered wireless communication system. Layered communication systems are characterized by levels of processing that are performed for transmission and reception of a data signal. For example, a “physical layer” typically refers to processing that is performed to package a signal for radio transmission; it may include error coding, data interleaving digital code modulation, and other conventional processing. The physical layer can be contrasted with, for example, a “data layer” that performs processing to format a signal into a format appropriate for delivery for the wireless device to the subscriber terminal.
Prior-art systems are disadvantageous because the wireless access device maintains a channel on a physical layer when the subscriber terminal needs to maintain an active channel, even if there is no payload data being transferred over the physical channel. This system is bandwidth inefficient because data transmissions in computer networks are “bursty,” characterized by a short transfer of high-rate data, followed by a relatively long period in which no data are transferred. This inefficiency reduces the number of subscribers that can be working on a system.
Thus a need exists for a system in which a subscriber and a wireless-access device can communicate along a layer of the connection, without activating the physical layer until payload data is intended to be sent.